Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu says he will annex Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank if he is re-elected.
Benjamin Netanyahu's right-wing Likud party is in a tight race with the new centre-right Blue and White alliance in the current election campaign. Photo: AFP
Israelis go to the polls on Tuesday (Wednesday NZ time) and Mr Netanyahu is competing for votes with right-wing parties who support annexing part of the West Bank.
The settlements are illegal under international law, though Israel disputes this.
Last month the United States recognised the occupied Golan Heights, seized from Syria in 1967, as Israeli territory.
Israel has settled about 400,000 Jews in West Bank settlements, with another 200,000 living in East Jerusalem. There are about 2.5 million Palestinians living in the West Bank.
Palestinians want to establish a state in the occupied West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip.
What happens to the settlements is one of the most contentious issues between Israel and the Palestinians - Palestinians say the presence of settlements makes a future independent state impossible.
Israel says the Palestinians are using the issue of settlements as a pretext to avoid direct peace talks. It says settlements are not a genuine obstacle to peace and are negotiable.
Netanyahu makes intentions clear
He was asked during an interview on Israeli TV why he had not extended Israeli sovereignty to large settlements in the West Bank.
"You are asking whether we are moving on to the next stage - the answer is yes, we will move to the next stage," he said. "I am going to extend [Israeli] sovereignty and I don't distinguish between settlement blocs and the isolated settlements."
A spokesman for Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas told Reuters: "Any measures and any announcements will not change the facts. Settlements are illegal and they will be removed."
Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas has dismissed the announcement by Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Photo: AFP
What is the political background?
Mr Netanyahu's right-wing Likud party is in a tight race with the new centre-right Blue and White alliance. However other parties, some of which support annexation, could end up being kingmakers when they try to form a governing coalition.
In Mr Netanyahu's own Likud party, 28 out of the 29 lawmakers running for re-election are on record as supporting this approach. Until now the prime minister was the only exception.
US plan for peace in Middle East imminent
President Donald Trump's administration is preparing to unveil a long-awaited Middle East peace plan, which US officials say will be fair.
However, the Trump administration has carried out a series of actions that have inflamed Palestinian opinion and generally pleased Israel.
In 2017 Mr Trump announced that the US recognised Jerusalem as Israel's capital, overturning decades of official US policy. In response Mr Abbas cut off relations with the US, saying the US could no longer be a peace broker.
Last year the US stopped contributing to the UN Relief and Works Agency (Unrwa), which has been looking after Palestinian refugees since 1949.
Last month Mr Trump officially recognised Israeli sovereignty over the occupied Golan Heights.
Peace negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians have been at a standstill since 2014, when a US-brokered attempt to reach a deal collapsed.
- BBC / Reuters